What if you walked into the darkest place on the Moon, where the Sun never rises, and went looking for water on the Moon? We follow one imagined walk from a sunlit ridge near the lunar south pole into permanent shadow, using real orbiter data and NASA's own plans.
0:00 Into the shadow
1:20 Why does the Sun never get in?
2:34 Where is the last sunlight?
3:40 What can you see in there?
4:55 What runs without the Sun?
5:50 How cold is it?
7:07 Is the ice really there?
8:39 How long can you stay?
9:44 Who goes in first?
10:20 Where should we go next?
What this film does and does not claim: the walk is hypothetical; no person has entered a permanently shadowed region. The shadow clock follows the 2-hour shadow goal in NASA's 2020 spacesuit concept of operations (EVA-EXP-0075); it is a planning goal, not a survival limit, and it is sped up. The coldest reading ever measured (about −250 °C) is at Hermite crater near the NORTH pole; the south-pole figure used here (38 K, about −235 °C) is a 2010 estimate just below the surface at Cabeus. Shadowed regions are not pitch black: they get faint scattered sunlight, and some get Earthshine. ShadowCam images are enhanced. Apollo photos are shown as analogies (sunlit, near the equator). The 2026 ShadowCam study found no widespread surface ice above about 20-30% by mass and could not rule out lower amounts. VIPER has no confirmed launch year. Artemis IV's early-2028 target is NASA's as of 20 Oct 2026.
Sources
- NASA EVA-EXP-0075, Exploration EVA System Concept of Operations (Feb 2020)
- Li et al., "Searching for surficial water ice in lunar permanently shaded regions with ShadowCam", Science Advances 12, eaec8211 (18 Mar 2026)
- Paige et al., Science 330:479 (2010); Colaprete et al., Science 330:463 (2010); NASA Ames LCROSS release (13 Nov 2009)
- Li et al., PNAS (2018) and JPL "Ice confirmed at the Moon's poles" (20 Aug 2018)
- NASA, "NASA's ShadowCam Images Lunar South Pole Region" (28 Apr 2023); NASA Hermite crater page; NASA LRO lithograph (2014)
- Mazarico et al., Icarus 211:1066 (2011); NASA/LPI white paper "Why the lunar south polar region" (2023)
- NASA VIPER pages and release (19 Sep 2025); NASA Artemis III and IV pages; NASA SVS 4893, 4930, 4770, 5228, 4944
- Thumb width ≈ 2°: O'Shea (1991). Connecticut area: US Census Bureau.
Visuals: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS 4043, 4574, 4716, 4770, 4893, 4930, 4937, 4944, 5038, 5228, 3654, 3760; LRO data), ShadowCam images NASA/KARI/ASU from the PDS (doi:10.17189/y89z-kt98), LRO NAC NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University (PDS), NASA Ames LCROSS mission animation, NASA JSC spacesuit testing (2022), Apollo 16 photos (NASA), Artemis II photos (NASA). Music and sound effects are original. Data cards and the shadow clock are original graphics.
Narration is a synthetic voice. Independent production, not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.
So where should we go next? Tell us in the comments.
